As they talked, Carl learned that Nicole had done a lot of things in her thirty-three years. A rebellious teenager, she had run away from home. Eventually, she had ended up in Dallas, where she tried working her way through college. When it became apparent that she could no longer afford it, she had enlisted in the army in order to get the rest of her education paid for. What she hadn’t counted on was how good she would be at it, or how much she would love it. She had learned guerrilla fighting in Central America. She was an airborne-qualified paratrooper, and could handle a gun as well as a man. She was a natural combat leader.

When the Union for Peace came along she was one of the first to join up. But later, when it became clear that there was something sinister about it and that President Mark Beaulieu had something much bigger in mind than she had at first expected, she made an emotional decision to work for the downfall of the Union from the inside. She became a trained operative. Nicole had worked to undermine Central Command as well as UP missions in the West, and she had an impressive list of hits to her credit.

“I was on the right side,” she said, “but not for the right reason.”

“What do you mean?” Carl asked.

“Well, to put it simply, I hadn’t accepted Christ into my life.” She pushed her hair back from her eyes. “I came from a really religious background, and I rebelled against it all. My parents were always talking about the Bible, and they sent me to Bible study, but I just didn’t want to listen. And nothing my parents did could make me listen. Boy, was I headstrong!”

Carl nodded. “I can identify with that,” he said. “What caused you to change?”

“Funny you should ask,” Nicole said. “It was one of the ‘Voice of the Mountains’ pamphlets you guys put out.” She described what was in the pamphlet, then added, “Deep in my heart, I always knew that everything it said was true, which I suppose is why I got out of the Union for Peace when I did and started to work for its downfall. I didn’t have any moral reason at first, but when I read this pamphlet, I changed, and I accepted Christ for the very first time.”

“Nicole,” Carl said with tears welling up in his eyes, “I thank God for you! You saved my life today. On top of that, you’ve helped me set things up to get all the supplies we need delivered to El Refugio. But you’ve given me something else that means the world to me. You have shown me that my life has a greater purpose.”

She gave him a puzzled look.